Superior bass skills with the
Absolute Fretboard Trainer

Here are two questions that can
reveal what kind of bass player
you are. They are very simple
and go like this:

Question 1: Tell me, quickly, what is
the note on the lowest
open string of your bass?

Now please make a mental note
of exactly how fast you answered and how difficult it
was to answer.

Question 2: Put a finger at random on the
fretboard and tell me, quickly, what note
it is. Do it again three more times in
different positions.

Make another
mental note of exactly how fast
you could name those
notes.

Now, compare the speed of your
first answer (naming an open string)
with the second
(naming random notes).

Unless you are an absolute beginner,
I'm sure you answered the first question
immediately and effortlessly.

In other words, you “just knew”
that note.

But what about the second
question? Did you also reply
immediately and effortlessly?
Did you “just know”
all those notes too?

Or were your answers
much slower because you
had to "think", count
frets, use some other
familiar note as a reference, or
do some other kind of mental
acrobatics?

If this is a good description
of your experience, it obviously
means that you don't know the
fretboard very well...

...and in that case
many other areas
will suffer as well:
following chord charts,
creating good bass lines,
improvisation, avoiding
errors and recovering from
them when they happen,
using scales and arpeggios
— progress in
all these areas is
limited and frustrated
by lack of serious
fretboard knowledge.

On the other hand the
good news is that:

1. It's actually easy
to develop absolute fretboard
knowledge
— knowing every note
and position instantly and
effortlessly —
with a good method
and a bit of practice.

2. As soon as you have
absolute fretboard knowledge
your progress in all other
areas will immediately
and drammatically accelerate.

What this really means
is that investing some
time and effort in learning
the fretboard extremely well
is one of the most powerful
things you can do to
massively improve
your playing.

These are some of the benefits
that you will get if you simply
learn the fretboard extremely
well:

The ability to play any
note without fumbling around.

You will understand
arpeggios and chords much better.
No more "a finger here and a finger there...",
but real notes - A, E, G, D....

The ability to create and improvise
bass lines on the spot, on any chords,
all over the
fretboard, according to your inspiration
and creativity.

You will understand scales
much better, and learn them faster.

You will be able to use the scales
you learn with carefree abandon.

You will have an advantage and
a better frame of reference during
improvisation.

You will be better able to
translate the notes in your mind
into music — and do it right
the first time.

You will be able to
read sheet music
more easily.

You won't need any more those
"chord charts" or "fretboard charts".
Rather, you'll have a master chart
fixed in your mind and at the tips
of your fingers.

While improving our playing
sometimes we get stuck and we don't know
why. If that's your case now,
learning the fretboard
can get you out of the rut and
playing better than
ever before.

With a fluent knowledge of the
fretboard you will better
understand what others are playing.
When you will see another
bassist playing, you will immediately know
which notes they are playing, and make much
more sense of it.

It will also help you to observe,
remember, and then “steal”
any good riffs and bass lines
that you notice when somebody else plays.

How many wrong notes do you
play because you're not sure about
which note is where, or because it
takes too long to figure out?
Wanna stop that?

Many self-taught musicians
(but not only them!) have some gaps
in their knowledge and skill.
Learning the fretboard will directly
take care of one major gap,
and indirectly help with other weak spots.

While performing, instead of
worrying about getting lost or making
mistakes, your mind will be free to
focus on the music itself, and you
will be able to express yourself
better.

Even the best players make
mistakes, but a masterful
knowledge of the fretboard
helps to minimize and neutralize them.
In other words, if you know the
fretboard well, even after a mistake
you will fall on your feet, not on
your face.

You will know exactly what you're
playing - notes, scales, chords,
or whatever - and that will make
everything easier.

Because of your super-familiarity with
the instrument, you will be a lot
more confident and relaxed when you
play.

As you can see, if you are serious about
playing bass and if your fretboard
knowledge is still weak, there are
many good reasons why you should
make it a priority to improve
in this area as soon as possible.

And if you decide to go
for it, you should also know
that a well designed
training tool can make
a huge difference in the
time and effort you will
need to achieve your goal.

The Absolute Fretboard Trainer

The Absolute
Fretboard Trainer (AFT) is
an interactive multimedia software
course sigle-mindedly designed to
achieve one goal: to give you
the ability to know each and
every note on the fretboard
instantly.

This goal is achieved through
a series of special exercises
and requires an average of 20
minutes a day of practice for
a few weeks.

You can download AFT Lite, the free
version of Absolute Fretboard Trainer,
and see for yourself how the method works.
Then, when you are
completely satisfied
that the program can help you develop
absolute fretboard skills
quickly and effectively,
you can buy AFT Professional and
complete your training.

You can also read more about
AFT in this web site, especially
the method
and software pages.

A few more thoughts...

Whether you will use AFT or not,
I sincerely believe that you should
make it your goal to
develop absolute fretboard knowledge.

Seriously, how can you ever hope to
kick butt on the bass if you don't even
know where the notes are?
Come on. One way or another,
do learn the fretboard
extremely well and your playing will
improve immediately and drammatically.

One last thing...

Absolute fretboard knowledge
does not develop automatically,
even after years of playing. You will
only develop it when you focus
on it with specific
training.

To understand why, consider
this more familiar case: touch typing.

Most people never invest
a few hours to really learn
the layout of the keyboard
and spend their whole life
typing with two fingers while
looking at the keyboard all
the time. The result is a
lifetime of painfully slow
and frustrating typing.

Meanwhile,
others decide to
go for it and
learn touch typing
once and for all. The result,
after just a few weeks, is a
lifetime of fast,
effortless and enjoyable typing.

Similarly, you will only
develop absolute fretboard knowledge
when you decide to go for it
and give yourself specific
and dedicated training.
Without such training
you will always remain the musical equivalent
of a two-finger typist.

I invite you to download AFT now
and experience how easy and enjoyable
it can be to develop truly superior
bass skills: